Political Extremists May Sound Mad, But They’re Actually Happier Than Moderates

While political extremists may froth at the mouth and march around in a huff, research suggests that they are actually happier than those who take more moderate political views.

In Arthur C. Brooks’ book ‘Gross National Happiness,’he uses survey data to determine what makes for happiness. He found that “correcting for income, education, age, race, family situation and religion, the happiest Americans are those who say they are either ‘extremely conservative’ (48 percent very happy) or ‘extremely liberal’ (35 percent). Everyone else is less happy, with the nadir at dead center “moderate” (26 percent).”

The fact that extreme conservatives are more likely to be happy than extreme liberals is keeping with a general trend of conservatives being content than liberals.

Now it is up for the happy extremists on both sides to argue angrily about why that is.